We walked from Hotel Castillo Blanco to Castilblanco (pop. 5000) to Almaden de la Plata (pop.1500), a distance of roughly 18 miles. The stage begins with a long stretch of road walking—16 km or 10 miles. The stress was relieved by the sight of the beautiful dehesas we walked alongside, the beautiful wildflowers, including two varieties of rock roses, broom, and pea plants, and a chorus of bird song! We were also spurred on by the groups of friendly, cheery cyclists out for their Saturday ride or possibly cycling the VDLP and all wishing us a
“Buen Camino.”
The second part of the stage is through the Parque Natural de Sierra Norte. We walked along thousands of cork oaks and dehesas, followed by a veritable botanical garden of wildflowers. Less appealing were the areas of replanted pine and eucalyptus. Even though it was only about 70 degrees, we felt very hot and tired for the short steep ascent to the top of a hill followed by a steepish descent to the town of Almaden de la Plata.
Almaden is a pretty little town of traditional white houses. Quarrying for marble was very important during Roman times and there are still marble fragments on the trails.
We stayed at a little hostal in a basic but not unattractive room with wooden ceiling beams and a little balcony (45 euros; no food services). Regrettably, there was a strong smell of cigarette smoke!